Even though Winter is holding on for dear life, we're starting to see some warmer temps that will have the river melting soon and allow us to start our 2014 Season! This will likely be your last old fashioned text email from me. The next one will be an html email. I know...now we're getting fancy!

We WILL have our Dock Day this Saturday. The weather may be cold now, but Saturday will be close to 50 so it should be a great day to open up the house and get things organized. We will meet in MALDEN at 9am to move boats out of the tent and onto the trailer. We will not be moving the trailer to Somerville yet - the main reason being the snow. The other reason is the trailer there is now the former GGRC trailer. Our new trailer will be delivered April 3rd. (Side loader = no more threading boats!!!!) Once the boats are loaded we will then head over to Somerville to get things ready for the start of the season! We will be done by noon - and if anyone wants to have lunch at Casey's, I'm in!

What to bring....

- Clothes you don't mind getting dirty.

- Boots...because of the snow, bringing boots will likely be a good idea.

- A shovel - Did I mention there's snow? We wont' likely have much to shovel but it'll help to clear some snow.

- 5 gallon buckets - if you have them, we'll take them!

- Milk Crates - If you have any plastic milk crates in your home that you can do without, please bring them. We'll use them as cubbies.

- Gloves - Work gloves are always good to have with you.

- Kitty Litter Jugs - if you buy kitty litter in the large jugs, we'll take them! (*With the Lid) We'll use them as buoys during the year.

And thank you to EVERYONE who sent the emails out to the reps yesterday. It will help us get the new dock!

See you at 9am on Saturday in Malden - 356 Commercial St, behind the Malden DPW.

We met with someone from Congressman Capuano's staff. There were 10 members of the club there to meet them. Some notes were taken by her and I'm sure there will be further communications. As I mentioned in my previous email, the squeaky wheel gets the grease! So here's how you can squeak....below are two emails we've written. Please fill in the below information and send it along. The first email is for those living in the 7th US Congressional District. Please send this if it applies to you.

The 2nd email is for Sen. Warren and Sen. Markey. If everyone can send that out, that would be great!

Here are the links to send the emails. They are via online forms. To send out the message, simply click the below link, fill out the requested contact info and copy and paste the below letters - please remember to edit as needed! (Your name and address. The underlined spaces designate where you'll want to enter that info.)

My name is ____________, and I live in the Massachusetts 7th US Congressional District at ___________. I enjoy rowing from the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse in Somerville, MA, which is also in your district. It has been brought to my attention that the Massachusetts Environmental Trust Grant Program awarded the City of Somerville $200,000 for improvements to the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse including a new dock three years ago. The purchase of the dock has been made, but the arrival of the dock has been delayed by an impasse between the City of Somerville, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Army Corps of Engineers over who will pay the permitting costs for both the old and new docks at the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse. The Army Corps has requested that the DCR waive its rights to deny any past penalties and permitting fees on the original 60 some year old dock.

Please help fix this problem. My fellow rowers, including the Somerville-Everett High School Rowing Team and local paddlers, need your help navigating a speedy and fair agreement between the Army Corps of Engineers and the DCR so the installation of the new dock can move forward. Thanks in advance for your support!

Sincerely,

_____________

Dear Senator Warren/Markey,

My name is ____________, and I live at ___________. I enjoy rowing from the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse in Somerville, MA. It has been brought to my attention that the Massachusetts Environmental Trust Grant Program awarded the City of Somerville $200,000 for improvements to the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse including a new dock three years ago. The purchase of the dock has been made, but the arrival of the dock has been delayed by an impasse between the City of Somerville, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Army Corps of Engineers over who will pay the permitting costs for both the old and new docks at the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse. The Army Corps has requested that the DCR waive its rights to deny any past penalties and permitting fees on the original 60 some year old dock, but it has not specified what that might amount to.

Please help fix this problem. My fellow rowers, including the Somerville-Everett High School Rowing Team and local paddlers, need your help navigating a speedy and fair agreement between the Army Corps of Engineers and the DCR so the installation of the new dock can move forward. Thanks in advance for your support!

The sun is setting later and later each day and we'll be on the water sooner than you think! Have you been doing anything to stay in shape? Now is a great time to get started if you haven't been doing anything. The better shape you're in at the start of the season, the more competitive we'll be!

Here's an update on what's going on with GGRC -

- CRASH-B's - It looks like this year we'll have one of our largest contingents competing at the CRASH-B's! If you're not doing anything next Sunday - Feb 16th - please head down to BU's Agganis Arena and cheer on your teammates from GGRC who took on the challenge of training and competing in this event. I think every rower should compete in this at least once. Who's competing? Mary White, Hillary Abbey, Lucas Rogers, Meg Sheehan, Laura Pedone, and we have a few possibles who are considering signing up now to race in the "Bull Pen" (For late registrations) - Andrea Dierna, Heather Oblon, and Kelley Whitmore! If I missed anyone, please let me know!!! Good Luck to everyone competing!!!

- Dock Day - I've scheduled our FIRST Dock Day to open the boathouses for 2014. On Saturday, March 1st at 9am, we'll be moving boats and getting everything ready for the start of our season. We don't start until later that month, but our youth rowers start much earlier! The more hands we have, the faster it'll go. We'll be moving hulls from Malden to Somerville as well as putting in the new and improved Goose Defense System. (The UN stepped in and has prevented us from using weapons of mass destruction against them.) I've scheduled a rain date of March 2nd. Please click this link to let me know what time works best for you on March 2nd - we will only hold it on the 2nd if we are rained out on the 1st. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XHQDBZH

- REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!! Please head over to Regatta Central to register for the 2014 Season! It's the same system as last year. Click on "Clubs" and find GGRC!

- Everett High School - This Spring GGRC introduces another High School to Rowing. The Everett High School Crimson Tide will be joining Somerville High School rowing out of Blessing of the Bay this Spring! We're very excited about this. As someone who grew up in Everett, I'm VERY excited to see my home town hitting the Mystic!!!

- The Dock - Yes, there is news here. We're actually putting together an email on this now and we will be sending it out this week. Keep an eye out for it! We've been working as many angles as possible to get the new dock at Blessing of the Bay!

- GGRC 2013 Survey - THANK YOU to everyone that responded to the survey. We will be coming up with a response on all the great feedback we received!

- Concept2 Valentines Challenge - This week, Concept2 has a challenge that starts today. Erg 14k meters from today until Friday and you'll be able to print out a Valentine for someone special!

- Erg Rental Returns - If you rented an erg, I'll be in touch with the dates for returning them. I hope you found them to be a valuable tool for winter training!

- New Equipment - We do have new Equipment that is scheduled to come in 2014! We have a new 4+ as well as a new trailer scheduled to be delivered this Spring! The new 4 was purchased thanks to several folks who stepped up to be Boat Builders. If you wish to receive more information on what the commitment is to be a Boat Builder, please let me know!

- Rack Space for Singles at GGRC - For the first time, GGRC has rack space available for singles. Of the 4 open slots we have available, 2 are taken and 1 is tentatively taken. We have space for 1 more single. The basics on this are simple. If you store a single with us, you will have access to it on your schedule. The cost is $350 for the season. I'm putting this out to the GGRC Membership to see if anyone has a single that they'd like to keep with us. Please do not forward this outside of the GGRC Community yet.

Yup...this is L O N G overdue! With each day, the 2014 season gets closer and even though we had a good year, training now is what will make next season that much better. Everything you do now will help. Work that core! Work on greater flexibility! You can do it!

What are we doing? As you know, we've rented our ergs for the winter - we still have a couple remaining if you're interested in erging in the comfort of your own home. Greer and Matt are willing to give you workout plans so you can train and also coach you on technique. Some of our rowers who row in the morning have already signed up to be coached by Greer over the winter. Matt Walker is planning on something similar for the season. They are charging for their services - $40 for the winter - and if you're interested, that would be paid directly to them and not to GGRC. If you're interested in the winter coaching, contact them directly - Greer - greerdent@gmail.com or Matt - mlwalker79@gmail.com

Goals for winter training -

There are erg races that you can take part in that you can shoot for. The CRASH-B's on February 17th is one. Matt just posted them on Facebook. If you don't have Facebook or haven't seen them yet, here's what they are...

-Cranberry Crunch: January 26th West Barnstable MA.

-IcebERG Classic 4-person relay: February 9th Hingham MA.

-Crash B's: February 16th Boston MA.

What else can I do besides erg?

There are a lot of things you can do besides erg!

- The stairs at Harvard Stadium. It's cold...it's not easy, but it's a great workout. Start out doing half and then add a few sections each time you do it until you've done the entire stadium. I'm likely going to start doing this on Saturday mornings beginning next week - Dec 21st.

- Plyometrics on

Most

Sunday Mornings with Victoria Farr. She does them at the MIT track every Sunday morning at 9am. This is another great workout that Victoria has designed to target explosion with your leg drive at the catch.

She will post on the club Facebook page on the weeks she is doing this.

- Running - there are a lot of running clubs around that do organized group runs. The Somerville Road Runners hold a weekly run on Thursday evenings that starts at Casey's. It's about 4ish miles and you don't have to be a SRR member to take part. Very casual and is a good run. They do it every week.

- Core work - Get up 10 minutes early and do crunches or sculler sit ups. Then each week do a little more - add more crunches/scullers and add in timed planks. A strong core will help you to sit up tall while rowing and help keep solid technique when you're tired.

- Yoga - There are a lot of studios that do yoga. I'll be taking the classes for "Broga" starting in January. http://www.brogayoga.com/

I'm in the process of planning the December row for December 7th. Because I want to make sure we fill the seats and no one stays on the dock - it'll be a little chilly to hang out on the dock waiting to hot seat, I need to ask everyone to commit to rowing if they're interested. Right now, I'm planning on meeting at the Malden Boathouse at 9am. We'll rig the hulls we want to use and then head out. We'll likely do the holiday greeting for MATV as well. (I'm coordinating that now.)

Please reply to this email if you want to row on December 7th and I will mark you down as being committed to row. Last year we used this as an opportunity to raise some funds for Globe Santa. This year, I'm going to ask everyone to bring a new, unwrapped toy that we'll donate to Toys for Tots.

Festive attire is suggested. Last year we attempted the first rowing Menorah. It didn't go as planned - Construction Paper vs wind and snow.... Perhaps we should attempt it again. (No lit candles) I'll let Matt Walker be in charge of that. From emails and the those who accepted the invite via Facebook I have the following as "Yes".

Rich W

Heather

Hillary

Gretchen

Laura P

Greer

Kate Buckley

Krista

These 3 were listed as "Maybe". Unless you email me changing this to "Yes", I will consider you a "No"

Michelle A

Andrea D

Lauren V

Please let me know if you'd like to be a part of this fun event. Also, don't forget that also on December 7th is our Winter Party!

Hope to see you on December 7th - for the row or at the party! Or Both!!!

'Twas the night before daylight savings, when all
through the boathouse, not a rower was stirring, not even a cox. The shells
were placed on the racks with care, in hopes the next rowing season soon would
be here.

The rowers
were rolling out the ergs
while visions of 2k PRs danced in their heads
And the boatman in the repair bay and I with my stop watch
had just settled down for a long winter of race plans

When out in the erg room came such a clatter
I sprung from my office to see what was the matter
Away to the erg room, I flew like a flash
to see the rowers and coaches in a clash

They stopped erging with one 2k to go
The river wasn't frozen, they wanted to row
I opened the bay door & what did I see?
No ice on the water, and it was flat as can be!

I barked at the rowers to get hands on the eight
We had to get on the water before it was too late
More rapid than eagles the rowers they came
The cox plugged in her cox box and called them by name!

Now 4 seat, now 3 seat, now bow pair, & 7 seat
On Stroke, On Engine Room, Together, push with your feet
Roll up as one, Catches should be quicker
Set the boat! Increase the run! You better not whimper!

This is the email I hate sending out. The email to update us on closing things up....sigh...

But
what a year it's been! Some of you had your first races, some your
first medals and some your first Head of the Charles rowing bow seat in a
double with a partner who doesn't speak English! From the opening dock
day, this year had a feeling of being special and it was. The weather
in October was the best in recent history - Lots of flat water and
warmer temps to prepare us for the challenges that we faced each
weekend. We were well prepared by our coaches - Greer & Matt - and
judging by the smiles at Head of the Charles, I'm not sure we could have
rowed any better. Congratulations to EVERYONE!!!!! And that's
regardless if you rowed in any race. There were members that just
aren't into racing but were there to help make sure those who wanted to
race were prepared. I'm proud to be a member of this club!!!!

Dock Day -

The last Dock Day of 2013 is upon us and will be this Saturday from 9am - Noon.
We will be moving hulls from Somerville to Malden - this will require 2
trips. We will also need to pull the white launch out of the water and
clean up the boathouse. It looks like we will not be painting oars
this weekend - I haven't had a chance to get the paint but we will put
the collars on the new oars and hang them on the racks. They'll be
ready for use in 2014!!!!

Erg Rentals -

As
I mentioned, we are renting the ergs out again this year. If you are
interested, please go to Regatta Central and you can sign up there to
rent them. We have 15 ergs that we are renting out and it's a great way
to stay in shape over the winter. The cost is $150 for the winter and
you can either pay that via credit card on Regatta Central or via check,
but you will need to reserve one on Regatta Central. The exact return
date is TBD but early March is when we'll need the back for the start of
the youth rowing season. And renting an erg is a great way to prepare
for the CRASH-B's!

Winter Training -

A
number of you have asked about organized winter training. We're
working on it and will inform you as soon as we have a plan. We're
looking at setting up workouts at St. Ann's as well as days/times where
the club can do the stairs at Harvard Stadium and such. The training
you do now will make you better for 2014. It's also important to take
some time off to refocus for next year. As soon as we have the plan, we
will let you know.

Flatbread -

THANK
YOU!!!! I don't have the final totals yet, but it looks like the
benefit night did very well. The folks at Flatbread informed me that
they haven't been this busy for a benefit night in a long time. We
really made them work. One of their employees told me how tired his
arms were from making pizzas! You got the word out and people
responded. There was a constant flow of take out orders and folks
eating in. Thanks again for spreading the news and making last night a
success!!!!

Race Fees -

I
will be sending out an update on race fees before dock day. If you owe
race fees, please bring a check with you to dock day. I will send an
email out with the spreadsheet of who owes what to those who owe money.

December Row -

Yes, we will be doing the December Row. The date for this is December 7th.
What are we doing? We're putting boats on the water so we can say we
rowed in December! We'll need some volunteers to cox. More information
on this will follow.

Facebook & Twitter -

In case you didn't know, we are on Facebook and Twitter....here's how you can find us on both...

Facebook
- Search for "Gentle Giant Rowing Club" A lot of information is posted
here for events and other rowing related information. We will be
switching this to a Fan Page this winter.

Twitter - our handle is gentlegiantrc. Follow us.

Social Events -

A
few folks have asked about getting together in the winter to have a
night together with your teammates. So we'll be doing that. Fred &
Judith will once again be hosting a party in December. There was a
request for a GGRC night out bowling so we'll pick a date for that. We
also had a request for a pot luck as well and we'll set that up. We'll
keep you informed.

Rowing in France -

One
of the evening rowers took part in a rowing rally in France. Basically
rowing about 26ish miles a day down canals. I'm going to contact the
organization running it for more details and I will keep the club
informed on what I find out. Here's the link to the rally. http://atppr.free.fr/Page%20anglais.html It sounded and looks like a lot of fun and how cool would it be to see GGRC Uni's rowing down canals in France???

That's
it for now. Take the time to rest a bit and then start back up with
the training! Get up 15 minutes early and do some core work. Get out
there and run, erg, or bike. Anything you do now will help make you
faster in 2014!!!!!

Thank you again for being you. It's because of you that I'm proud to be a part of GGRC!!!!